Things Hard to be Understood

Who Shall Give Us Flesh to Eat?

Things Hard to be Understood | by | Volume 29, Issue 4 | July – August 2023

Numbers 11:31-34: A reader enquires: How could God bring judgment on the people for eating the quail that He provided? As always, the context and detail of the record, including the events leading up to it, help us to understand. Let’s review the circumstances.

Towards the Promised Land – Israel leaves Sinai

It was on the first day of the first month of the second year after Israel left Egypt that to the great excitement of men and women of faith, “the tabernacle was reared up” (Exod 40:2,17). It was a singular day, there at Sinai, when divine worship could be formally carried out in the place where Yahweh would dwell among His people as He had declared: “Let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them” (Exod 25:8).

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“The Reproaches of Them That Reproached Thee Are Fallen Upon Me” Psalm 69:9

Things Hard to be Understood | by | Volume 29, Issue 1 | January – February 2023

AUDIO

A reader, understanding that Psalm 69 is a messianic psalm, has asked for an explanation of this latter part of verse 9. In what way were the people reproaching God and how did these reproaches fall on His Son? 

“And David saith…”

The superscription of this psalm declares it to be …

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Naaman – “When my master goeth into the house of Rimmon to worship…” (2 Kings 5:18)

Things Hard to be Understood | by | Volume 28, Issue 2 | March - April 2022

Let us consider.
The little maid of Israel, Naaman and the king of Syria
It was the unwavering faith of the household servant of Naaman and his wife, “a little maid”, still with an unbroken connection in her heart to “the land of Israel” (2 Kings 5:2,4), which set in train a process that l…

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The Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, Why Was it Necessary?

Things Hard to be Understood | by | Volume 28, Issue 1 | January - February 2022

John, the forerunner of Jesus
In John chapter one, we are told no less than seven times that John was the witness, that is, the one who bore witness or bore record concerning Jesus (John 1:7 (twice),8,15,19,32,34).

There is no doubt that John’s powerful testimony bore bountiful fruit. Near the…

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“No One Born of a Forbidden Union May Enter the Assembly of the LORD”

Things Hard to be Understood | by | Volume 26, Issue 1 | January – February 2020

The larger context
This particular prohibition does not stand alone. It is one of a group of like prohibitions recorded in Deuteronomy 23, which, though unpleasant to contemplate, should be considered together. We will consider the exclusions noted in verses 1-8. These are:

A man w…

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Every beast of the field and every fowl of the air… Gen 2:19

Things Hard to be Understood | by | Volume 25, Issue 4 | July - August 2019

We want to consider the points raised in this COD article and compare it against the record of Genesis 2:19-20.

A brief quibble over terminology
We begin by noting that the IEAC Statement dated 4 November 2015 states under the heading “Background” that “We accept the creation r…

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Stephen’s Speech In Acts 7 – Did He Really Make So Many Mistakes? (No. 4)

Things Hard to be Understood | by |

Moses was 40 at the time he fled Egypt (Acts 7:23-29) – but the book of exodus does not say so.

Rackham puts it this way: “The age of Moses at the crisis, forty years, was discovered by the rabbinical interpreters. Forty is the Jewish round number. The Old Testament only state…

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